© Monica Camposeo / RTL
Luxembourg’s customs and environmental officers are stepping up roadside inspections to clamp down on illegal waste transport, with regular spot checks on trucks uncovering fines and documentation breaches across the country’s main routes.
Customs officers and Luxembourg's Environmental Administration carry out two to three inspections of trucks and vans each month. During these checks, officials examine the driver’s documents, the load being carried, and the driver’s identity. RTL Reporter Monica Camposeo joined one of these inspections.
Six patrols are on duty. On the Dudelange motorway, just off a service station exit, the teams wait for the next truck. Bruno Sales, an officer from the customs control unit in Diekirch, and his colleagues are trained to spot vehicles that might be carrying waste. “That one with the A plate, we’ll stop it,” he says. To carry out targeted checks, officers spot trucks that have a plate with a large “A” on the front or back, which trucks carrying waste must display .
The truck driver is signalled to follow the customs van. At the customs centre in Howald, officers from the Environmental Administration join the inspection. As Danielle Frères from the Environmental Administration’s control unit explains, there are different types of waste: waste that only requires proper documentation, and waste that must be declared and authorised before transport.
The truck stopped by Bruno Sales and his colleague was carrying copper. The papers revealed that it was only passing through Luxembourg but the Grand Duchy was not listed as a transit country. As a result, a fine of 74 euros was issued.
To verify that the cargo matches what had been declared, the truck is scanned by Thierry Frantzen and his colleague with was is essentially an X-ray for vehicles. In this case, the scan confirmed that only copper was on board, so the driver was cleared to continue.
Other truck drivers waited their turn. For four hours, customs and environmental officers carried out checks along the motorway and main transport routes. According to senior customs officer Christian Faack, after about four hours, word gets around among drivers that inspections are underway, and traffic along the inspected routes drops significantly. These checks also cost drivers time, which adds to the deterrent effect.
As of October 15 this year, fines totaling nearly €17,000 have been issued. Waste transport inspections began around ten years ago, and since then, the number of violations has fallen sharply as companies have become more familiar with the regulations.
